If you are interested in getting involved with Islington Boat Club then please contact [email protected]

Recent development and current funders

Islington Boat Club’s core grant from Islington Council came to an end in March 2015. Consequently, it was imperative that we examine in detail the way we work and deliver our youth programmes so that we could find new and better ways to sustain provisions.

Our fundraising efforts have been instrumental in helping us to refine and develop our strategic plan to ensure that we continue to work with young people, people with disabilities, older people and the wider community. It is imperative that we continue to work towards ways to become independent, achieving sustainability.

Over the past 18 months we have worked on the development of areas within the scope of Islington Boat Club’s activities, especially programmes involving other age groups beyond the core 9 to 19 age groups.

Having undertaken research, consultation, fundraising and outreach work, we managed to deliver the following:

Fundraised and achieved full funding to complete the long-awaited refurbishment of our historic youth club base, the Thames barge ‘Water Gipsy’;

Developed, consulted, raised funds and outreached for the implementation of a new programme called ‘Upperdeckers’ for isolated older people aged 50+ to come along every Tuesday 11-1pm for a paddle and/or cup of tea. Each year we aim to work with 300 + older people in this project alone;

Developed, consulted, raised funds and achieved full funding for a three year programme of activities called ‘All On Board’. This started in July 2016 and is aimed at encouraging people with disabilities to participate in watersports which under normal circumstances would be unavailable to them. (City Bridge Trust is one of the core funders of this programme);

Developed and implemented Islington Boat Club’s volunteering strategy crucial to the club’s future sustainability. This included producing a volunteer handbook with role descriptions and volunteer agreements.

We secured funding from the following organisations:

City Bridge Trust, London Sport and Alchemy Foundation

Towards our All Onboard Programme.

St James Place Foundation, BBC Children In Need and Garfield Weston

So we could reopen our Saturday drop in sessions (11-4pm)for young people (up to 36 young people currently attend these sessions on a weekly basis)

Asda and Islington London Youth Games

To open every Tuesday after school (5-7pm) for kayak training. In this context, for the first time in several years Islington Boat Club was asked to enter a kayak team to represent the London Borough of Islington (LBI) in the London Youth Games and LBI came 4th overall out of 32 London Boroughs. The performance of the Islington Boat Club kayaking team contributed significantly to this result.

Whirlwind Trust, Worshipful Company of Innholders, Local Initiatives Fund and Summerversity and others

For full delivery of our 2017 school holiday programme which meant that every school holiday in 2017 IBC has been open for young people to attend 10-4pm.

London Marathon Trust

To add capacity to our mountain biking courses on offer – we have now over 30 mountain bikes which means that we can work with a full classroom of young people and/or offer 2 courses at any one time

Jack Petchey Achievement Awards

For young people to nominate their peers for achievement awards – prizes are £250 for each of the winners to spend on an item of equipment or a trip for club members.

So, despite the previous core grant from Islington Council coming to an end in 2015, Islington Boat Club has made excellent progress.

Resounding proof of this is the fact that the club was nominated for ‘2016 Club of the Year’ by Sport Islington.

Overall, we believe that we are on our way to achieving our current objective which is to become a sustainable community hub for all - regardless of age, background or ability. It is imperative that this project continues in the longer term.

Our affiliations

Islington Boat Club is a NGB British Canoeing (BC), Royal Yachting Association (RYA) and Mountain bike Instructors Award Scheme (MIAS).

Recently we have become recognised by the RYA as a RYA registered ‘Sailability’ charity that exists to promote watersports to disabled people through a network of local partners, schools, Sailability centres and clubs.

One of the major benefits of becoming an accredited RYA Sailability club is that Islington Boat Club is able to show that it has attained required targets in the following areas:

Fulfilment of best practice for community and customer expectations;

Fulfilment of duty of care. Beneficiaries are assured that Islington Boat Club has proper management processes, in addition to compliance with regulatory and legislative requirements;

Access to qualified Instructors. Islington Boat Club has the training, qualification and ongoing professional development of quality instructors;

Access to nationally recognised programmes, courses, materials, and standards. Structured around the sports pathways for people of all abilities to maximise the success of beneficiaries returning for further courses, joining the sport on an ongoing basis, and being retained.

Minimised risk and reduced exposure to liability. Islington Boat Club is operating within the RYA operating standards and guidelines and using qualified instructors.

Latest

Thank you Variety Club Golf Society!
On Monday 18th February we welcomed a new addition to the club team - a brand new bright blue minibus!
Despite the wet weather we had lots of our supporters turn up to thank both the Variety Club Golf Society and John Griffin.
We're very grateful for our lovely new minibus and she has already taken a group of our All On Board Club members to a sports centre for a trampolining session!

A slow and relaxing cruise along the Regents Canal is a delightful way to spend a day or early evening. Our 35ft fully renovated Narrowboat, PeggotyTom, has a toilet on board and facilities for making tea and coffee and of course you can bring your own food.

We offer a variety of RYA courses including:
Inland Waterways Helm; Powerboat Level 1 and Level 2 and Competent Crew.
IBC is a not-for-profit charity and uses any revenue from RYA courses to fund the youth club for 9-19 year olds. By booking with us you are helping to keep the youth club open.